County fills seven correctional officer vacancies

JOHN RISHEL jrishel@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN — There will be seven new correctional officers working for the Clinton County Correctional Facility moving forward.

The Clinton County Commissioners voted unanimously to hire the replacements to fill vacancies at the prison on Thursday morning.

Full-time officers hired were Trenton Peasley, David Muncer, Jacquelyn Rinker, and John Hassinger. They will be paid $28,891 per year.

Part-time officers hired were Sean Winner, Joshua King and Dorsey Littles, whose pay was set at $11.50 per hour, not to exceed 1,000 hours per year.

The hirings are effective Sept. 24.

The commissioners also set the salary of Michael Kunes, who was recently named Deputy Warden of Custody at the Correctional Facility, at $48,641, effective immediately.

“Kunes was already acting status. We are just establishing salary,” said commissioner chairman Robert “Pete” Smeltz.

Also on Thursday, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the overhaul of the MIS (Management of Information Systems) Department, which has been renamed the IT (Information Technology) Department.

The overhaul reestablishes the titles, job descriptions and salary grades of several IT personnel.

r A new position created on Sept. 7 named IT Trainer/Help Desk Support, salary grade J.

“The connections of names to these positions will take place next week, and any salary changes will go back to the salary board to be voted on.” said Jann R. Meyers, chief clerk.

Of the overhaul, Commissioner Pete Smeltz said, “We lost Daryl Geyer, there is a shifting there. We are changing programs on IT in Clinton County, and this involves changes in names, reestablishing titles and job descriptions. What we are doing…we brought in someone who worked assessment, and will now be directly under the wing of IT.”

“A lot of work was done here, a lot of changes, not something to be taken lightly.” Commissioner Paul Conklin said.

“It was much needed, something that needed to be done. It will probably need updated every five to 10 years to keep up with IT and tech standards.” Conklin added.